Method and device for establishing bidirectional communications between persons located at different geographically distant stations
First Claim
1. A method for establishing bidirectional or conferencing telephone communications between different persons grouped into different geographically distant stations interconnected by telephone lines, each station comprising at least one emitting unit having a reading device and at least one microphone, a receiving unit having at least one loudspeaker, and a display unit, said method utilizing individual information media such as badges bearing coded information identifying each person before communicating and during the communication, said method comprising the steps of:
- emitting a coded call signal from the emitting unitof one of said stations by a person at said station who wishes to initiate a conference between at least two stations to the stations where persons to be invited to participate in the conference are located;
reproducing said coded call signal at least at each of the stations receiving said coded call signal;
switching on the emitting unit of each called station only when said emitting unit has been identified by a person of the station;
a person being identified as having said individual information medium badge authorizing said person to use said station and inserting said badge into said reading device of saidemitting unit of the station;
each station after receiving the coded call signal emitting a reply signal to the conference initiating station indicating that it is ready to participate in the conference;
identifyng a speaking person during the conference on the display unit of each station participating in the conference as soon as the speaker starts to speak; and
automatically switching on only one microphone as soon as the first words said by a person or speaker reach a sound volume exceeding a predetermined threshold, the other microphones then being automatically switched off.
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Abstract
A method and a device for establishing communication between several persons distant from one another. The method allows, by means of an appropriate spatial multiplexing, speech signals and signalling signals to be transmitted simultaneously between at least two stations ST1, ST2 connected together by a special connection. Each station comprises at least one communication unit U'"'"' comprising a microphone, a badge reader identifying a person, and a synoptic panel representing the geographical situation of the stations of a same network by display constituted by diodes and the illumination state of which indicates the state of each station of the network during a conference.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. A method for establishing bidirectional or conferencing telephone communications between different persons grouped into different geographically distant stations interconnected by telephone lines, each station comprising at least one emitting unit having a reading device and at least one microphone, a receiving unit having at least one loudspeaker, and a display unit, said method utilizing individual information media such as badges bearing coded information identifying each person before communicating and during the communication, said method comprising the steps of:
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emitting a coded call signal from the emitting unit of one of said stations by a person at said station who wishes to initiate a conference between at least two stations to the stations where persons to be invited to participate in the conference are located; reproducing said coded call signal at least at each of the stations receiving said coded call signal; switching on the emitting unit of each called station only when said emitting unit has been identified by a person of the station; a person being identified as having said individual information medium badge authorizing said person to use said station and inserting said badge into said reading device of said emitting unit of the station; each station after receiving the coded call signal emitting a reply signal to the conference initiating station indicating that it is ready to participate in the conference; identifyng a speaking person during the conference on the display unit of each station participating in the conference as soon as the speaker starts to speak; and automatically switching on only one microphone as soon as the first words said by a person or speaker reach a sound volume exceeding a predetermined threshold, the other microphones then being automatically switched off. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method for establishing bidirectional and particularly conferencing telephone communications between different persons grouped into different geographically distant stations and interconnected by telephone lines, each station comprising at least one emitting unit having a reading device and at least one microphone, a receiving unit having at least one loudspeaker, and a display unit, said method utilizing individual information media such as badges bearing coded information identifying each person communicating, said method comprising the steps of :
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emitting by one of the persons wishing to initiate a conference from the emitting unit of the person'"'"'s station a coded call signal to the stations where persons invited to participate in the conference are located; reproducing the coded call signal at each of the stations receiving said signal; switching on the emitting unit of each station receiving said coded call signal, said emitting unit of each called station being switched on only when said emitting unit has been identified by a person of the station; a person being identified by having said individual information medium badge authorizing said person to use said station and inserting said information medium badge into said reading device associated with said emitting unit of the station, a person of one of the stations participating in the conference being authorized to speak during the conference only after having inserted the individual information medium badge into said reader of said emitting unit, said identifying information of said person being transferred to each said station and displayed by the display unit thereof; and each switched on station after receiving the coded call signal emitting a reply signal to the conference initiating station to indicate that it is ready to participate in the conference.
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- 20. Apparatus for establishing bidirectional and particularly conferencing telephone communications for exchanging information in the form of telephone data or messages, said apparatus having a telephone line, a telephone set with a handset, at least one alpha-numeric keyboard, a display unit and a processing circuit including a miroprocessor having a central unit, a first memory unit in which is recorded information identifying a person acceptable to participate in a conference, said memory unit including a repertory, a programmable read only memory comprising at least one recorded program insuring various automatic sequences of telephone call search and launch to a different person, and an interface circuit connected between said microprocessor, said alpha-numeric keyboard and said display unit and a switching circuit connected to said telephone set and to said telephone line, said apparatus further comprising a second memory unit in said first memory unit for registering person identifying information extracted from said repertory, but whose call sequence resulted in a busy line signal, after automatically emitting said identifying information through said telephone line for attempting to contact the person, in order to effect again and automatically, after a specified time delay, at least one attempt to contact that person via said handset.
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29. Apparatus for establishing bidirectional and particularly conferencing telephone communications for exchanging information in the form of telephone data or messages between different persons grouped into different geographically distant stations of a communication network connected together by telephone lines, said apparatus comprising:
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at each station, at least one emitting unit having a microphone, a receiving unit having a loudspeaker, a display unit including first light-emitting diodes, a reading unit for reading information from a badge bearing an individual information medium, said information including the name of a person possessing said badge for identifying said person during a conference, a person being identified as having said individual information medium badge authorizing said person to use said station and inserting said badge into said reading device of said emitting unit of the station, and an interface unit interconnecting said emitting unit, said receiving unit, said display unit and said reading unit to a telephone line, said emitting unit of said station being switched on only when said person has been identified by a person at the station, and further comprising at each station a synoptic panel diagrammatically reproducing geographical limits of said network grouping several stations and indicating locations of the various stations of said network, a plurality of second light-emitting diode each representing a corresponding one of said stations and each providing a luminous state which indicates at any moment the state of the corresponding station during a conference, and control means for controlling said diodes according to the progress of a conference.
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30. Apparatus for establishing bidirectional and particularly conferencing telephone communications for exchanging information in the form of telephone data or messages between different persons grouped into different geographically distant stations of a communication network connected together by telephone lines, said apparatus comprising:
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at each station, at least one emitting unit having a microphone, a receiving unit having a loudspeaker, a display unit including first light-emitting diodes, a reading unit for reading information from a badge bearing an individual information medium, said information including the name of a person possessing said badge for identifying said person during a conference, a person being identified as having said individual information medium badge authorizing said person to use said station and inserting said badge into said reading device of said emitting unit of the station, and an interface unit interconnecting said emitting unit, said receiving unit, said display unit and said reading unit to a telephone line, said emitting unit of each station being switched on only when said person has been identified by a person at the station, and further comprising at each station a display board having a plurality of columns for displaying a name of each station invited to join in a conference, a name or names of the person or persons of those stations invited to participate in that conference, information indicating that a called station has replied to an invitation to join in the conference, and information in numerical form, for indicating a sequence number of a request for intervention originating from a person of the invited station.
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31. Apparatus for establishing bidirectional and particularly conferencing telephone communications for exchanging information in the form of telephone data or messages between different persons grouped into different geographically distant stations of a communication network connected together by telephone lines, said apparatus comprising:
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at each station, at least one emitting unit having a microphone, a receiving unit having a loudspeaker, a display unit including first light-emitting diodes, a reading unit for reading information from a badge bearing an individual information medium, said information including the name of a person possessing said badge for identifying said person during a conference, a person being identified as having said individual information medium badge authorizing said person to use said station and inserting said badge into said reading device of said emitting unit of the station, and an interface unit interconnecting said emitting unit, said receiving unit, said display unit and said reading unit to a telephone line, said emitting unit of each station being switched on only when said person has been identified by a person at the station, and further comprising at each station, detecting means for detecting a predetermined key word uttered by a speaker and controlling only the operation of a microphone of said speaker, other microphones being maintained inoperative and said microphone of said speaker being rendered inoperative when said detecting means detect a second key word uttered by said speaker.
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Specification